Pollard: I have confidence

Chennai, India – West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard believes the team has the capability of beating England on Thursday and advancing to the quarter-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Speaking to a packed media gallery, the 23-year-old said he was confident as the two sides prepare for the Group B encounter at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk.

“I have to be concerned about what is going in our camp what we need to do to win the game. We need to play hard cricket and stick to basics. We are well prepared to take on England and we have been improving our game,” Pollard said.

“We play each match as a final game. The group has come along so nicely. After our loss to South Africa in the first game, we have bounced back with collective performances. We are hoping to win the World Cup but we were actually written off earlier because of the debacle at home matches. We are looking to go forward in the tournament.”

The powerful six-footer added: “Each and every game we go out to play we regard ourselves as favourites. England are a tough team to beat though they have not been playing well. If you look back at the Twenty20 World Cup, they were in a similar position and able to bounce back and actually reached the final.”

The winners of Thursday’s match will advance to the quarter-finals. If England lose they are out. The Windies have another first round match against India on Sunday at the same venue. Pollard said he is looking forward to the big match.

“No one knows yet who is going to qualify in the quarter-finals. It does not matter to us as to who qualifies as long as West Indies make the cut. We need to go and win our games in order to progress to next stage. Obviously England’s defeats against Bangladesh and Ireland were good for us. But at the end of the day we still have to play against them. Ireland have beaten them, Bangladesh have beaten them but we have to play the same good cricket those two teams played in order to beat them,” he said.